|
Mass. General Hospital receives Gates
Foundation grant to expand HIV controllers study
Search for genetic, immune
basis of viral control should help vaccine design
BOSTON - March 4, 2008 - The Massachusetts General Hospital
(MGH) has received a five-year, $20.5 million grant from the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation to expand an international program
investigating the biological factors underlying immune system control
of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The grant provides support to
the International
HIV Controllers Study, which currently involves researchers
from more than a dozen countries and has the overall goal of discovering
information that can guide design of a vaccine to limit viral replication
in HIV-infected individuals. A primary focus will be understanding
genetic and immunological factors that have allowed a few individuals
to control HIV naturally without the need for medications, some
for more than 25 years.
The grant is part of the Collaboration
for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, an international network of research
consortia funded by the Gates Foundation to address priorities in
the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise scientific plan.
"We believe that it is critical to understand how these individuals
- who are maintaining viral levels so low that transmission and
disease progression should decrease markedly - are keeping the virus
in check and preventing it from causing disease," says Bruce
Walker, MD, director of the Partners
AIDS Research Center at MGH and principal investigator of the
Gates Foundation grant. "By recruiting enough of these individuals,
we hope to identify the genetic basis for this viral control, using
novel methods developed for the Human Genome Project. We believe
this approach is all the more important given recent setbacks in
HIV vaccine trials."
For more than 15 years it has been apparent that a small minority
of HIV-positive people remained healthy despite many years of infection.
As techniques for measuring viral levels in the bloodstream became
more sensitive, it was possible to identify this group of viremic
controllers, who can maintain viral loads below 2,000 copies/ml,
and an even smaller group of aviremic or 'elite' controllers, with
viral loads less than 50 copies/ml. In 2006 Walker and his colleagues
founded the HIV Controllers Study, with a $2.5 million grant from
the Mark and Lisa Schwartz Foundation. Through national and international
collaborations, they have already recruited nearly 1,000 controllers
into the study.
With the new grant from the Gates Foundation, the team plans to
expand the study group to 2,000 participants - 1,000 elite controllers
and 1,000 viremic controllers - from around the world. The investigators
will compare DNA from these individuals to genetic data from 3,000
people with progressive HIV infection, searching for genetic factors
that may be associated with viremic control by sequencing 650,000
SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) sites in each participant's
genome. The project will also use the latest technology to analyze
which immune responses best suppress viral replication and investigate
how the virus evolves to escape the immune system, additional information
that can contribute to vaccine strategies.
Potential participants in the study are HIV-positive adults aged
18 to 75, not currently on anti-HIV medication, who have maintained
viral loads less than 2,000 copies/ml for at least one year. Participation
involves having a single blood sample taken, which can be done by
participants' local health care providers. Additional information
about the study, including a list of participating institutions
and more detailed instructions for enrolling and providing samples,
is available at www.HIVcontrollers.org,
by e-mail
or calling 617 726-5536. All information gathered will be kept confidential.
"Since other approaches to vaccine development have not been
successful, uncovering how some humans are able to coexist with
the virus without developing AIDS, in spite of not receiving any
therapies, is critical," says Steven Deeks, MD, of the University
of California at San Francisco, a major collaborator on the International
HIV Controllers Study.
In addition to Walker, leaders of the Gates-funded project include
Sylvie Le Gall, PhD, Marcus Altfeld, MD, PhD, and Todd Allen, PhD,
of MGH-PARC; David Altshuler, MD, PhD, and Matthew Henn, PhD, Broad
Institute of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Paul de Bakker, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Thumbi Ndung'u,
PhD, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa; Mary Carrington,
PhD, U.S. National Cancer Institute; and Heiko Jessen, MD, Berlin,
Germany. Along with Deeks, major collaborators on the International
HIV Controllers Study include Martin Markowitz, MD, Rockefeller
University; Douglas Richman, MD, University of California at San
Diego; Amalio Telenti, MD, PhD, University of Lausanne, Switzerland;
Matthew Dolan, MD, U.S. Defense Institute for Medical Operations;
Jill Gilmour, PhD, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; and additional
scientists and health care providers from the US, Europe, and Australia.
The Partners AIDS Research Center was established in 1995 in response
to the continuing world-wide AIDS pandemic. The center serves both
Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital,
the founding members of Partners HealthCare, and is a natural progression
of the more than 20-year commitment by the clinicians and scientists
at those institutions to HIV and AIDS research and care. The center's
scope has broadened further with the participation of the Dana Farber/Partners
Cancer Center regarding AIDS oncology and close collaborative ties
to Fenway Community Health Center and the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital.
Massachusetts General Hospital, established in 1811, is the original
and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH
conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United
States, with an annual research budget of more than $500 million
and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer,
computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human
genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative
medicine, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine.
potential participants and physicians should call
617 726-5536 or e-mail elitecontrollerstudy@partners.org.
Media Contact: Sue
McGreevey, MGH Public Affairs
Physician Referral Service: 1-800-388-4644
Information about Clinical Trials
|
|
|
